Cara Lee Cupcakes and Cake

French Macarons!

2011-12-21T10:20:00.006-05:00

Hello blog world! Do you remember me?! I know it's been way too long since I have posted on here. It's been a crazy few months balancing my internship, graduate school, and work. It's left me with no time to bake :( But in addition to my crazy life right now one of the most amazing things happened in November... My boyfriend of 9 years proposed! So I have been kind of wedding planning here and there (but school is most important and I'm trying to focus on that ;-) I'm excited to really get wedding planning when I graduate in May because now I can really gather ideas from all the wedding and event blogs I love to read! hehe...

The fall semester has come to an end and I have a little more time on my hands during my winter "break" (which is less than two weeks! boo).... so I am trying to take advantage of that time. Yesterday was my first day off from the semester so I decided to tackle French Macarons. As you may recall I took a macaron class back in September for my birthday. I finally had time to make them on my own yesterday. I was so nervous! I've heard so many horror stories about macaron making that I researched extensively on the blogs as well before I started my endeavor. I won't bore you with every detail of my macaron experience or with a tutorial (because you can find plenty of them on the blogs out there) but here are a few things I found useful...

1. Prepping is worth it! That includes aging the eggs and weighing ingredients. I did all this the day before.
2. Magic bullet. I love this thing! I do not yet have a good food processor but there is nothing I have done yet that the magic bullet has not been able to handle. I made the almond flour with this amazing kitchen tool. The only thing is you may have to sift the flour a few more additional times.

As for the recipe, I used the recipe they provided us from the class which uses an Italian meringue technique. I made the basic macaron shell recipe - I was too nervous to add extra ingredients for flavor or food coloring that may throw off the recipe so I decided to make the basic recipe for my first time. This way I was also able to make different fillings to try out. Here are the results:

Filling: Grand Mariner dark chocolate ganache

Decor: Painted with diluted gel food coloring

Filling: Mocha swiss meringue buttercream
Decor: Sprinkled cocoa powder before baking

Filling: Dulce de leche swiss meringue buttercream
Decor: sprkinkle Wilton gold stars before baking then brushed
with edible gold shimmer dust after

I can't believe my first time was a success!! I'm glad I took that class back in September... I could only imagine if I tried these before then lol. I'm excited to try all the fun flavor combinations. They are a bit time consuming but worth the meticulous effort. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season... if I don't post before then, have a happy new year too! ~Cara Lee

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-10-22T13:54:00.004-04:00

I am dedicating this weekend's post to my mom! It's her birthday Sunday October 23rd. I made her a simple little cake with fun sprinkles - it reminded me of my childhood. It was my mother who instilled my love of baking. Here I am with my little pink mixer... scrambling eggs was what I did best at 4 years old ;-)

Aside from baking, my mom has always been there for me. She is a strong woman I've always looked up to. She made sure my brother and I had all the opportunities we could growing up.
But lately my mom has been going through a tough time this year after losing her job. I never really thought much of the economy these past few years, but when it affects your family you then realize what many other Americans are going through right now. I just want to say I know it can be hard, but I hope you can enjoy your special day. And each day find something that brings you joy! Love you mom & Happy Birthday!! ~Cara

S'mores Cupcakes

2011-10-19T22:43:00.002-04:00

This past weekend's wedding cupcakes included a s'mores cupcake with a toasted marshmallow frosting. I was so excited to use my new creme brulee torch from Bed, Bath and Beyond LOL. I liked them so much I made them for a football party Sunday and I'm going to make them again to bring in to school for my teacher friends this week lol. Here's the recipe I used, but of course you can modify it to your liking.

For the graham cracker crust, you can use pretty much any homemade recipe. I just mash up a pack or two of graham crackers in a food processor (aka my "magic bullet"). Add a few table spoons of butter and sugar til it's slightly moist. Press it in the bottom of each cupcake liner - I use a small glass to press it down evenly.

For the cake, and for my chocolate cake recipes I love to use Martha Stewart's Devil's Food Cake recipe. It makes at least 36 cupcakes and I usually cut the recipe in half. I do a little less than an ice cream scoop full. Pour into each cupcake liner and cook for about 15 minutes (depending on your oven).

After the cupcakes are cooled I top them with Trophy Cupcakes Toasted Marshmallow Frosting. It's basically a meringue frosting that I use the creme brulee torch to "toast". The recipe on the site says it makes enough for 2 dozen... when I think it makes enough for 20 dozen!!! I cut it down and this amount makes really makes a smaller amount good enough for 2 dozen or so.

Marshmallow Frosting
Modified from Trophy Cupcakes/Martha Stewart

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
Dash of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes. (I make sure they reach at least 140 degrees F)
Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately (it cannot be saved for later use)
Optional: use a creme brulee torch to toast the frosting like a marshmallow :)

Rona & Greg's Wedding

2011-10-16T00:56:00.009-04:00

I had the pleasure of making the cake and cupcake tower for my friend's Rona and Greg's wedding this weekend. It was held at Glen Echo Park here in the DC area. What a fun location! It is so rich with history and has that vintage feel. Little fun fact: Glen Echo was built in 1891 and was the premier amusement parks in the DC area until the late 1960s. The wedding itself was held in the "Bumper Car Pavilion."

The entrance to the park with an old trolly from the 1900s

The Bumper Car Pavilion in the early 1900s
(I love seeing old pictures from past history)

The Bumper Car Pavilion today!

The cake and cupcakes were simple and fun. The cake was a basic yellow cake with amaretto ganache while the cupcakes included red velvet and a toasted s'mores cupcakes (a fun cupcake for the fall weather!).

The wonderful beautiful bride and groom

And last, I made a groom's cupcake with the old school Redskin's "R." I am not a skin's fan, but I'll do what I gotta do for my friends ;-) Congrats to Rona and Greg!! I had such a great time and thank you for letting me be apart of your special day.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

2011-10-08T12:10:00.005-04:00

I'm so behind on my blog these days... grad school has consumed me! Hopefully will find time to post some of the things I have done recently as well as one more upcoming wedding for a friend next week. In the meantime, I found an hour of my morning to bake some tasty yet healthy muffins. I had some very brown bananas that needed to be used. I like banana bread but it takes forever to bake in the bread pan and I usually burn the sides and the middle is not cooked. So I used my large muffin tin to make big muffins instead. The BF couldn't even tell they were whole wheat ;-) This recipe is a keeper!

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins w/ Chocolate Chips and Pecans
Adapted from the blog Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body
Makes 1 loaf (or 9 large muffins)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (can substitute regular milk which I did)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large or 4 small bananas - I was short one banana and I subbed a few tablespoons of canned pumpkin in its place)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips (I put extra of course)
1 cup Chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray (I used a large muffin tin). In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl, mix sugars and oil with a whisk or fork until well blended (about 1 minute). Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add banana, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix with a whisk or fork just until moist. Fold in mini chocolate chips (and pecans if you want). Don’t over-mix. Spoon batter into prepared pan or two ice cream scoop fulls per muffin tin. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes (or 30 minutes or so for the large muffin tin) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

French Macaron Class in DC

2011-09-18T19:07:00.006-04:00

French macarons. I know they are so trendy right now, but I have been wanting to learn how to make them forever. I'm usually good at reading a recipe and teaching myself, but these always have intimidated me. As I searched for a pastry class about French macarons, I came across the seasonal classes they offer at Adour in DC (located inside the St. Regis Hotel - so posh!). As one of my birthday presents to myself this year I decided to sign up for the class this weekend. Each class Chef Fabrice teaches you a different flavor macaron as well as an additional french pastry. This class we learned how to make macarons filled with a lemon chocolate ganache filling. I never new chocolate and lemon could work together, but it did!. We also learned how to make a basic french financier (for those of us who don't speak French like myself, it sounds like "fin-on-see-ay" ;-).

I learned how time consuming these suckers can be. Some important tips I learned for making French macarons:

-temper the eggs for at least 24 hrs
-it is best to weigh your ingredients (so I guess my next purchase will be a scale)

-the dry ingredients must sit out over night to "dry" more (becuase of the oils in the almond flour).
But in the end it is totally worth the wait for these little delicious French pastries. I am excited to try them for myself with all the endless flavor combinations you can create.

Here are the finished products...

Lemon Chocolate Ganache Macarons

Lemon Financiers

Details about the class if you are interested:
-Held at the Adour restaurant located at the St. Regis Hotel D.C.
-Cost was $75 for this class
-When you arrive there are pastries, coffee and tea to munch on
-You get to go home with a box of fresh made French Macaroons

Indian Wedding Cake

2011-08-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

This weekend I did a cake for one of my friend's - Erika and her husband Sam. It was an Indian inspired wedding cake with an alpana design that she created. That puts a lot of pressure on a person (me! who is no professional) to try and re-create it, especially in sugar form. The alpana was used on the invitations, programs, and I had to incorporate it on the cake. I was so nervous!!

The program

To add to the tension, hurricane Irene was threatening nasty weather. I've delivered cupcakes in a blizzard - I can deliver a cake in a hurricane!! lol... In the end, the cake made it safely to the venue - Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. I wish I took pictures of how they transformed this place, but it was amazingly beautiful with red roses and purple hydrangea. The trees were sprinkled with red roses and tea lights. I was nervous my cake wasn't going to do enough justice!! But after I stacked it and added the finishing details it came together. I also got to see the bride and show her the cake - she was happy with the final result so I could finally relax!! Here are a few shots I took... can't wait to see professional pics :)

My cake getting it's glamor shots on ;-)

My favorite shot!

Congrats to Erika and Sam!!! Thank you for letting me be apart of your big day!!

Ruffled Cake

2011-08-22T16:22:00.004-04:00

I know everyone has done this cake by now.... but I think it is so cute and simple, I wanted to try my hand at it too. With the upcoming wedding, I had to test a cake recipe before hand and this was the perfect opportunity to test the recipe and my piping skills. I can't wait to do this cake again sometime :)

I ended up with a vanilla buttermilk cake with peach and black berry swiss meringue buttercream. Very summery! For the peach SMBC, I put a few tablespoons of peach preserves in the food processor before adding it to the frosting to ensure there were no peach chunks to get caught in the tip of the piping bag.

I love the contrast of the blackberry frosting inside the cake too!

Had a little batter left over to make a few cupcakes as well :)

Tonight I will begin preparation for this weekend's wedding! No life this week, but hopefully worth all the hard work in the end ;-)

Wedding Cake Inspiration

2011-08-14T22:56:00.006-04:00

Been awhile since I've blogged. It's been a busy summer with weddings, vacation and work. So I decided to blog about the upcoming wedding cake I am working on for the end of the month.

I'm getting excited to start working on my friend's wedding cake. Her soon to be husband is Indian and they will be having both the traditional Indian ceremony and a modern one the same day. I will be making the cake for the reception. Here are some of the inspiration ideas I have been gathering the past few months.

One of the main inspirations of the overall wedding is the Alpana she designed. She also designed the invitation for our other friend's baby shower back in May. The Alpana design was used on the invitations and will be incorporated at the wedding. I learned that the Alpana is an important symbol in Bengali events such as weddings.

The flowers that will be used in the wedding are red roses and purple hydrangeas. I think I'm feeling fresh flowers on to be incorporated on the cake :)

And here are some cakes that have caught my eye along the way...

Cake Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

We have an idea sketched out... but you will just have to wait and see! ~Cara Lee

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-07-26T18:59:00.006-04:00

My friend Ashley (the one who we had the birdy baby shower for) just had her baby last week! The sweetest little boy named Brayden :) Whenever I go to visit them I try to bring some treats with me. This week request was peanut butter! I looked around and came across this recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. It got rave reviews from mama Ashley and everyone else I gave extra cookies too.
When it comes to cookies I LOVE soft baked cookies. I'll eat crunchy ones, but they have to be dipped in milk to soften them up. This recipe makes a very soft cookie that is still soft the next day (if you have any left). They also don't spread very much so you can fit a lot on one pan ;-) Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe modified from All Recipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I subbed 1 cup whole wheat flour for o ne of the cups of all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate (I used Nestle's new semi-sweet/white chocolate swirl chips)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apar t onto ungreased baking sheets (I used my small cookie scoop which drops them in tablespoon fulls, which I baked for about 9 minutes).
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-07-13T23:05:00.006-04:00

Here is an easy chocolate cake recipe if you need a quick dessert. It doesn't use a lot of utensils either (because you all know we hate doing dishes!). And you can top it with whatever you like (I topped these off with a quick vanilla cream cheese frosting)... Enjoy :)

One Bowl Chocolate Cake
From All Recipes
Makes about 36 cupcakes or 2, 9in Rounds

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

A few things about this chocolate cake recipe: it is a soft lighter cake, almost like a box mix texture (so I don't think it would be very sturdy for stacking or anything like that); if you are making cupcakes like I did, fill the liners no more than 2/3's of the cupcake liner because anymore than that and you will have cupcakes with overflowing "muffin tops" and that ain't pretty (basically when I used my ice cream scoop to portion the cupcakes, right where the metal thingy is that swoops across to release the ice cream/batter is, that is the line I used to fill the scoop). Also, this recipe is easily cut in half (I made 17 cupcakes when I cut in half :).

9 years

2011-07-12T13:58:00.006-04:00

The key to a man's heart: bacon & bourbon

Today marks our 9 year anniversary together! That is my boyfriend and I ;-) Crazy huh?! Were not really into gift giving but we do always try to go out to a nice dinner somewhere and maybe give a creative little gift. This year I decided to surprise him with this dessert I saw in the latest issue of Food & Wine Magazine. He's not really a sweets person yet he complains I make things for everyone else and not him. Seriously... men?! lol.

I love the irony of the card next to the bacon brownies

I instantly wanted to make these Bacon Bourbon Brownies when I saw them in the magazine. I love the sweet and salty combo and he loves bacon and alcohol just brings it all together. I find homemade brownies hit or miss for me. I've made a batch before that came out rock hard and others that were just okay. I'm actually a fan of the box mix becuase they always turn out right and taste damn good! So anyways... These were actually really good but just a few things: After I baked these, I don't know if I over baked them a few minutes or what, but the outside ones were a little dry. These are definitely a dark chocolate kind of brownie and it needed a little something sweet (maybe that's just me). I whipped up some Maple Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting to top it off with which married perfectly together with the brownie. In the end the BF liked them and that's what matters the most. Happy anniversary babe!

Bacon Bourbon Pecan Brownies
From Food & Wine

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 pound sliced bacon

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 packed cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons bourbon

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches of overhang on 2 opposite sides. Spray the paper with vegetable spray. Spread the pecans in a pie plate and toast for about 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.
In a skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, turning once, until crisp, 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let cool; reserve 3 tablespoons of the fat. Finely chop the bacon.
In a saucepan, combine both chocolates with the butter and stir over very low heat, until melted; scrape into a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat in both sugars with the reserved 3 tablespoons of bacon fat. Beat in the bourbon. Add the eggs and salt and beat until smooth. Sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl and beat until blended.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the bacon and pecans on top. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the brownies are set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center; a toothpick inserted into the center should have some batter clinging to it. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the brownies cool completely. Lift the brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve.

Maple Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (room temp)

1/2 block of cream cheese (4oz.) (room temp)

Powdered Sugar

2 tsp. bourbon

1 tsp. maple extract

Directions:

1. Mix together butter and cream cheese in your stand mixer until combined.
2. Add about a cup of powdered sugar and the bourbon and maple extract and continue to mix.
3. Add a little more powdered sugar until it is the consistency you desire. (I never measure my powdered sugar).
4. Put in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner of the bag and drizzle onto the cooled brownies.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T12:15:00.007-04:00

This is one of the first years we aren't hosting a 4th of July BBQ and I must say it's been quite a relaxing day! We are headed to a friends house to BBQ later today and I always have to whip up something to bring. I picked up fresh blueberries, strawberries and rhubarb at the store last night and concocted this cake with the inspiration of Martha Stewart.

I used Martha's Strawberry Cream Cake recipe but instead of just plain strawberries to layer the cake with, I made a strawberry-rhubarb compote between the layers. Garnished it with fresh blueberries. Hopefully it won't be a pain to transport to the BBQ tonight... Happy 4th of July!The cake is made in 3 parts: the cake, the whipped cream and the compote. This recipe makes 2 8 inch layer cakes, if you want a 3 layer like mine, make and additional half of the cake recipe. Once the cakes and compote are cool you can layer away. I did have to torte the tops of the cakes to make them flat before layering. Compote and whipped cream can be made the day before. What I love about this cake is that rustic, simple look. Enjoy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cream Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottoms of 2 8-inch round cake pans, and line with parchment paper. Butter and flour paper and sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla bean, orange and lemon extract. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in 3 parts and milk in 2, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pans. (I like to use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter evenly between the pans. All you have to do is count how many scoops you do in each pan ;-)
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)

Cream Directions:

Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan, and sprinkle with gelatin; let soften 5 minutes. Place saucepan over very low heat, and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool.
Using an electric mixer, beat cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl until very soft peaks form. Continue to beat, and gradually add gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks form. Add vanilla bean paste and mix for a few more seconds.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

10 ounces (2 cups) fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and chopped
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
10 ounces trimmed rhubarb, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 3/4 cups or 2 large stalks)
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Stir strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a small nonreactive pan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes. Remove strawberries with slotted spoon; place in a bowl and let cool. Set aside pan with strawberry liquid.
Meanwhile, in another small pan over medium-low heat, combine rhubarb, remaining 1/3 cup sugar, and the water. Simmer gently, stirring often, until sugar is dissolved and rhubarb is almost tender, about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rhubarb to bowl with strawberries. Add strawberry liquid to pan.
Raise heat to medium and simmer until thickened and reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Stir into strawberry-rhubarb mixture.

Semi-Homemade Mini Lemon Tarts

2011-07-02T23:17:00.001-04:00

I pulled a Sandra Lee last weekend and made "semi-homemade" mini lemon tarts garnished with fresh berries for the wedding shower. The lemon curd I had prepared a few weeks before hand for the wedding cake I did recently (which was actually for the bride to be's now sister in law ;-). The lemon curd froze really well and did not loose any of it's thickness when defrosted. This is a great recipe for summer and mini desserts are all the rage right now.

How to make "Semi-Homemade" Mini Lemon Tarts....
1. Prepare lemon curd (this can be done in advance and like I said it freezes well. When you need to defrost it, put it in the refrigerator 24hrs before you need it.)
2. Prepare the mini shells with pre-made pie crust
3. Pipe the lemon curd in the shells and garnish to your liking (these can be prepared the night before and kept in the fridge).

Lemon Curd By The Joy of Baking

3 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 tablespoon (4 grams) finely shredded lemon zest

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisktogether the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week. Makes 1 1/2 cups

Mini Pie Shells

You can find pre-made pie dough in the refrigerator section at your grocery store. I found mine near the cookie dough. Unroll the dough on your counter and using at least a 3in circle cookie cutter cut out circles. I around 8 circles in one dough. Place them each in a muffin tin cup. You want to make some sort of well for the curd to sit in. Don't forget to pierce the bottom of the dough or it will balloon up! I baked mine on 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes (this may vary according to the directions on the box). Let them cool. Now you're ready to fill with the curd!

*I tired using the extra dough by putting all the scraps together and re-rolling it out, cutting out the circles, and everything... but when it baked it shunk up and did not make a cute little bowl/well like the others. Still tasted good though ;-)

Here is a funny pic my friend sent me of her family's dog rocking a "sombrero cookie" as her dad called them when he first saw the tarts LOL...

Oreo Pops > Cake Pops

2011-06-28T00:17:00.006-04:00

I have come to the conclusion I like Oreo pops much better than cake pops. Maybe it's because they're easier to make (less prep to do)? And maybe because I'm just not really down with the soggy texture of a cake pop when I bite into it. Not trying to knock the cake pops or anything - I still do love Bakerella! ;-)

Here are some Oreo pops I make for one of my best friend's wedding shower this weekend. The Oreo pops were just one of many sweets I made for the occasion.

When making them I switched it up with Golden Oreos and Peanut Butter Chocolate Oreos. Double stuff is the way to go with these! So much easier inserting the stick with out breaking it. But.... if you have to have a regular size Oreo, I found that if you insert the stick carefully, put a little of the chocolate around the base of the cookie and stick and chill it for a few minutes. It kinda glues it in place. Now your ready to dip the whole thing :)

Here's a few more of the sweet's I made for my friend's shower:

~Homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate w/ graham crackers or toasted coconut
~Semi-homemade lemon tarts with fresh berries (I may put the recipe up later)
~ Coconut macaroons
~Key lime pie cupcakes
~Banana, nutella and coconut cupcakes

Nom Nom Nom....

Vineyard Wedding

2011-06-15T11:07:00.006-04:00

This past weekend I had the honor of making the wedding cake for one of my best friend's brother's wedding. When it came to the cake, the bride was very laid back and open to all ideas when we were discussing decor. The colors of the wedding were purple and green and It was going to be held at a local winery. So, when I think of a vineyard, I think rustic.

One of the farms near the winery

Entrance to the winery

With all that in mind, this is the cake I came up with. It's quite simple but elegant at the same time. Thank you to Tim, the bride's friend who supplied all the flowers for the wedding and had extra for the cake. I put hydrangea and roses.

I love this pic of the cake on the wine barrel

...and a close up shot of the cake

I love the rustic look. I also love how much less stress it is to put together this kind of cake. The stress came in when I got the weather report for the weekend: 90 degrees with humidity. Did I mention it was an outdoor wedding? We had to keep the cake inside until the cake cutting. Since I was attending the wedding as well it was no problem to help set up everything right before hand. I forgot to mention, the cake was a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and white chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. Yummy! For the guests we set up a cupcake table with assorted cupcakes.

To go with the rustic look, I decided to display the cupcakes on different stands and cake plates. This gave it depth and added to the rustic feel of the wedding.

The flavors were lemon raspberry, chocolate salted caramel, and carrot cake.

It was a beautiful wedding! Congrats Jon & Angela! Thanks for letting me be apart of your special day :)

Salted Caramel

2011-06-08T23:48:00.007-04:00

Preparing ingredients for a wedding cake and cupcakes this weekend. One of the flavors the bride and groom chose was chocolate and salted caramel. I'm a bit obsessed with salted caramel, even though some may say "it was so last year" but I don't care! Something about that sweet and salty combo.... It's great for fillings (which I will be doing for the cupcakes this weekend); a topping on chocolate ice cream; or just eating by the spoonful ;-) Here is the recipe which is pretty easy to follow. The site I got the recipe from has good pics for those first time caramel sauce makers (I will admit, I burnt my caramel sauce the first time I tried to make it).

Salted Caramel Sauce
Modified from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup of sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Kosher Salt

Method

1 First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

2 Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.

3 As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4 Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

5 Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Add kosher salt to taste. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Sauce will thicken as it cools). Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Makes a little over one cup of sauce.

Ashley's Shower: Part II

2011-05-26T02:10:00.000-04:00

Here are more details from the baby shower this past weekend. In the previous post I put all the food. Here in this post, is the decor, activities and games that we did for the shower.

Banner created by Erika. She hung it on twine to give it a rustic, natural feel.

Plain wooden frames I painted for decor. I did a bird ABC theme. You know it's hard to find birds that start with A! Albatross was the only decent bird I could find lol. These can be incorporated into the baby's room if they want :)

Bird house I painted. The tree was another theme of the shower inspired by the invitation.

Center pieces created by Heather using mason jars, rocks, moss, manazita branches, nests and eggs.

Bird themed library using books from the actual library and left over branches.

On of the activities was for each guest to leave a finger print on a tree of life canvas so the baby will know what great friends and family he will be supported by. The canvas was designed and painted by Erika.

View of the canvas which will be hung up in the baby's nursery.

Baby shower games. A shower isn't complete without cheesey games. We did the "mystery baby food tasting" and of course the candy bar diaper game.

And for our last activity we had guest decorate all different sized onesies for the baby to grow into.

Here is my onesie I created... of course!

It was such a great shower. The first one that I've actually helped to plan. We got such nice compliments from the guests and of course the mommy to be LOVED it too :) Congrats to Ashley, the momma to be! And thanks to Erika and Heather, we made a great team and it was a success ;-)

Now, as Jay-Z says.... on to the next one! June is booked for a friends wedding and a friend's bridal shower.

Ashley's Baby Shower: Part I

2011-05-24T23:24:00.013-04:00

This weekend I helped host my friend Ashley's baby shower! The two other girls (Erika and Heather) who helped put the shower together, have design experience and I love putting together these kind of events, so we made a great team :) We have been planning for the past few months now and it all came together this past Sunday. The inspiration was drawn from the beautiful invitation our friend Erika designed:I love it! How cute is the bird family?! The theme for the shower was birds with the color palate of green, blue and orange with hints of brown and yellow here and there. Our friend Ashley does eco-friendly fashion so we wanted it to be very natural and "naturey" as well. In this first post, I will post all the food from the shower.

Our menu and the frame I painted to match the shower theme.

Close up of the menu. We had sweet and savory items.

Cucumber and radish open faced sandwiches made by Erika. I also made the plate stand. I will post how I did that later :)

Desserts included: lemon blueberry cupcakes, chocolate orange cupcakes, a small lemon blue berry cake, bird's nest treats, coconut macaroons and fruit salad served in sugar cones.

So many pics, so little space... click to see these larger :)

6 inch mini lemon blueberry cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream for the mommy to be. Notice the birds match the birds on the invite :)

Everyone loves these homemade coconut macaroons! They have become a staple any time I do an event for my friends lately. They're so easy to make too!

For favors we ordered swirl lollipops and personalized them with our own sticker to match the shower as well a simple bow.

So you can't eat it, but a shower is not complete these days without a diaper cake! I like to keep mine simple, so I made a basket to hold a majority of the contents. Products included all natural baby products from my friend's website Mom To Mom Health!

Gotta wash it all down with personalized water bottles! Label designed by our friend Heather.

Stay tuned for the next post for part II.

strawberry shortcake

2011-05-18T23:26:00.007-04:00

Whipped up some easy strawberry shortcakes the other day for dessert. Still waiting for the strawberries to come in to season (definitely had to sugar them up a bit), but the cake part was super easy and tasted so good! Especially when served right out of the oven ;-) I added a touch of lemon zest to the biscuits and vanilla bean to the homemade whipped cream. The following recipe that I used is from Baking Bites. I cut it in half so I'd have just enough and not many leftovers.

Strawberry Buttermilk Shortcakes
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites
Makes just about 5 servings (depending on how big or small you prepare the biscuits)

1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 1/2 tbls butter, chilled and cut into pieces
3/8 cup buttermilk (that's half of 3/4 cup ;-)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract Fresh lemon zest (about a half lemon)
Fresh, ripe strawberries
Homemade whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Rub in butter with your finger tips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or pulse a few times in a food processor).

4. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla extract and lemon zest until the dough comes together. Add an additional tablespoon of buttermilk if the dough is slightly dry.

5. Drop by 1/4 cups (use a measuring cup) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Or, I gently spread out the dough to around a 1/2 inch thickness and cut out the short cakes with a heart shaped cookie cutter (or use a small biscuit cutter). I got about 10 heart shaped biscuits with the size cutter I used.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

I like to serve them immediately out of the oven. Slice in half, put in fresh strawberries, homemade whipped cream, and enjoy ;-) I'm definitely ready for summer and strawberry season! ~Cara Lee

may = baby showers

2011-05-16T00:44:00.006-04:00

I'm just about finished my spring semester and looking forward to blogging once again this summer! I've been able to bake a bit more, a few cupcakes here and there for friends, but I'm itching to make a cake. It's been awhile since I've done one!

In the mean time I have 3 baby showers this month! One was this weekend that I had to miss :( But I sent over some cupcakes of course ;-)

Red velvet with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting
and homemade cupcake toppers

Next weekend I'm helping host my girlfriend Ashley's baby shower. I'm sooo excited! Here's a little sneak peek at the invitation our friend designed. The theme of the whole shower is inspired by her wonderful art work!

Beautiful invite designed by our friend Erika

We have been preparing for Ashley's baby shower for a few months now. I can't wait to unveil all our hard work next weekend! Until then...

M.I.A.

2011-04-19T11:23:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post! I've been crazy busy with grad school, homework, work, and somehow I try to fit a social life in there somewhere. I really have not been in the kitchen to bake anything since my last post, but yesterday I finally got to whip up some cupcakes for my friends Stella & Dot jewelry show.

How cute is my new cupcake stand?! Goes perfect with the Jewelry.

Cupcake flavors were chocolate orange, chocolate peanut butter, gluten free lemon, gluten free coconut and to top it all off I made coconut macaroons too. I made the sweets to entice people to come look at the jewelry ;-) ....Well a few more weeks of school and a condensed summer course to go and I will be free! I also have a few friends weddings this summer and will be making cakes for them, so I'm excited about that!

Butterfly Bridal Shower

2011-03-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

I had the honor of putting together one of my closest friend's bridal shower together this weekend. I was excited to be able to choose the theme and everything.

I knew I wanted something with butterflies and the color purple since that is her wedding theme. I went to one of my favorite sites for inspiration: etsy. I truly admire the talent so many people have on that site. In my search for all things butterflies and purple, I came across the Frog Prince Paperie. Paula, of the Frog Prince Paperie was so kind and personalized what was originally a birthday party idea into a bridal shower theme for me. Here's how the party turned out...

The decor/theme: butterflies, purple with green accents. I loved Paula's simple butterfly theme. She made water bottle labels, cupcake topper (I couldn't find the right size scalloped punch to make them as pretty as I wanted); bag labels; and banner (and more but I just didn't have time to use all the materials she created). The guests loved the personal touches it added to the party :)

The main table: I was excited the bride's mom had an area to set up the cupcake tower and cookie favors (made by the bride's mom too). I hung up the banner over it - looking back, maybe I should have hung the banner over the mirror, but ah well. I also added some flowers on each side.

The food table: Thanks to the lovely bridesmaids who helped put together the main food which included brie with hot pepper jam, spanikopita, mini quiche, hummus and veggies, fruit and more. I love the center piece I came up with the day of - green and purple vases .99 cents each at the thrift store; the L and B initials $1.00 each at Michael's; LOVE sign the bride's mom already had; flowers from the local grocery store for around $20 total. Not bad!

Desserts I made: As you know from my blog I love dessert :) I made lemon blackberry cupcakes, coconut macaroons and white chocolate dipped oreos. The cupcakes made a great center piece on the main table.

I was so happy with the final result! This was only the second party I've gotten to really put together. There was a lot more detail I wanted to add, but time constraints (grad school, work, etc.) but I'm happy with what we ended up with. I'm ready to start planning the next party! Thanks to the bridesmaids for all the help; to the bride's mom for letting us use her house and making the sugar cookie favors; and the Frog Prince Paperie for the designs.

Lucky Monkey Baby Shower

2011-02-28T13:31:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I made cupcakes for a shamrock/monkey theme baby shower. The family is Irish (hence the shamrocks) and for the monkeys they wanted the Fisher Price Rainforest monkey. I did my best interpretation of the monkey I could ;-) Cupcake flavors included lemon and Oreo mint.

Since I had extra cupcakes, I made some different flavor combos to bring to my friend's bachelorette party that night. Flavors included lemon or chocolate cake with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream with a Chambord raspberry filling. Kinda funny - I bought the jam at the dutch market and mixed alcohol in it ;-)

I also made a coffee swiss meringue buttercream to top off some of the chocolate cupcakes. I looove the coffee swiss meringue, it reminds me of coffee ice cream and pairs so well with chocolate cake.

The ladies loved them, I mean... Who doesn't love cupcakes after a few drinks?? ;-)

Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes

2011-02-19T23:08:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since my last post! School and work have consumed my life. Haven't been able to bake as much as I've liked. I didn't even get to make something cute for a valentine's day post :( Ah well... I made these cupcakes last weekend for a friend's birthday. Blackberries were on sale and I've been wanting to make some lemon cupcakes. A great flavor combo - reminds me that spring is around the corner!

Recipes Used:

Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream
-I cut this recipe in 1/2 and added a few tablespoons fresh blackberry puree (be sure to remove the seeds! I use either a mesh strainer or a cheesecloth) instead of using vanilla
-It makes a beautiful all natural purple color that I just love

Joy of Baking Yellow Cupcakes
-I added fresh lemon zest and lemon juice to the batter
-This recipe is best when eaten the same day, if not as soon as its cooled. I think I would use another yellow/vanilla cake recipe instead next time because they were a bit dry at the time of the party that night (but still tasty ;-)

Almost forgot... I got to use my logo stickers! I look so professional huh?? ;-) ~Cara Lee

Super Bowl XLV Cupcakes

2011-02-06T23:12:00.003-05:00

I made some Super Bowl cupcakes for the big game today. I came up with a "Pretzels and Beer" cupcake. How I came up with this concoction:

Pretzels + Chocolate = Flipz
Pretzels + Beer = A delicious food combination
Chocolate + Beer = Young's Chocolate Stout
Pretzels + Chocolate + Beer = CUPCAKE!

The result: a cupcake with a pretzel crust, chocolate stout cake, a little vanilla swiss meringue frosting, and topped with a chocolate covered pretzel.

I could care less for the teams who were in the game (I'm and Eagles fan myself ;-) but I did match the colors black liners with yellow sprinkles for the Steelers and then yellow liner with green sprinkles for the Packers.

Recipes I used

Crust: I just winged it... smashed up some pretzels, sprinkled some sugar and some melted butter

For the cake: Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cake (just the cake part, and I used Young's Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness)

Frosting: Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue

Valentine's Birthday

2011-02-03T12:47:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine asked me to make some cupcakes for his girlfriend's birthday. He let me do anything I wanted, except the flavor had to be red velvet - her fave ;-) Since Valentine's Day is around the corner I used that as inspiration.

Even though I cannot stand the taste of those conversation hearts, I do think they are fun to look at. I made fondant conversation hearts and I thought it would be a cute idea to write things on each heart that had to do with them as a couple. Some phrases I used: "family" (since they are expecting), "farmville" (she loves that game), to really personalize it. I also put fun fondant curly ribbon on some of the cakes to make it more birthday-ish :)

So I had some left over red velvet batter and wanted to create something... I came up with a "red bottom" cupcake.

It's red velvet and cheesecake cupcake with chocolate chips. Traditionally you use a chocolate cake on the bottom. I attempted to make the cheesecake part look like a heart ...FAIL! But it tasted good. You don't even need frosting. You know I've met quite a few people who ... dare I say this....don't care for frosting! (My BF included... but I've been working on that ;-) ~Cara Lee

Giveaway Winner!

2011-02-01T08:51:00.006-05:00

Happy February. Thanks to all who entered the giveaway this past week. Congrats to Rene of Rene Takes the Cake! She left the 3rd comment and she is the Winner of the CSN Stores giveaway. She won $35 to any of their online stores! Thanks again to everyone :)

Snow Day

2011-01-28T09:55:00.006-05:00

We had our first 2011 snow storm here in the DC area this past Wednesday. It was kinda crazy - not as bad as the blizzard last year, but people got stuck on the roads for hours and power is still out for many in the area :( Luckily we had power and I am ever so grateful.

Of course I was snowed in and itching to bake something. But what? All week there were these store bought cinnamon rolls on the counter. I try to never eat that stuff. My motivation for staying away? Just look at the label:

I can't even read half the ingredients names. 15 grams of fat in only half a roll?! Holey moley! So I decided to make my own rolls. I made the dough, let it rise once and formed the rolls before I went to bed so they would be ready to pop in the oven in the morning. Here's the recipe I used with my modifications in red.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
Modified from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/2 cup white sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
Melted butter

Directions

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Add the butter and stir until melted; let cool until lukewarm.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk mixture. Add the sugar, 3 cups of flour, salt and eggs; stir well to combine with paddle attachment. Then switch to the dough hook and Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. (My house is pretty cool and dry since it's the winter time. Since I have a gas oven I turned it to 170 degrees and placed the dough in the bowl on top of the stove to create a warm/humid environment to rise. I think my house was still too cool so I let it sit a little longer and it finally began to rise.)
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 10x 14 inch rectangle. Lightly brush the far edge with water. In a small bowl combine the cinnamon and 3/4 cup brown sugar and sprinkle over the rectangles. (I divided my dough into four sections and rolled it out separately. So much easier to deal with smaller rolls! This way you can also do some without the nuts for those who do not like them. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. After you roll the dough into a rectangle, brush with melted butter then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle with nuts.)
Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces; place the pieces in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan, or 12 inch deep dish pizza pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight. (Since I had 4 smaller rolls, I cut them each about an inch and a half thick and placed them in muffin tins. I got about 24 rolls. Since the house was cool I left them out to rise overnight on the counter).
The next morning, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Take the rolls out of the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. (Since I left them on the counter I did not have to wait for them to come to room temp.)
Bake the rolls for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. (Since I used the muffin tins, I only had to bake them for 15-18 minutes. If you use the tin, be careful NOT to over bake. Also may want to put the pans on top of a cookie sheet because some of the filling dripped over when I baked them in the tins.)
Top with your favorite cream cheese frosting or glaze.

These were so yummy! Baking them in the tins make them a little more crustier, so like I said be careful not to over bake (I did that to a few by accident). I think these have become a snow day tradition - I made them during the blizzard last year too. I say calories don't count when it snows! ;-) ~Cara Lee

PS - 4 more days to enter the GIVEAWAY (just a reminder ;-)

baking is my therapy

2011-01-26T16:00:00.003-05:00

I was feeling a little blue the other day... schools about to start up again, its cold, and sometimes ya just get bummed out. For some, it's retail* therapy that makes them feel better but for me, it's baking. It always makes me feel happy and accomplished (well... as long as the recipe turns out ;-) .

(*For those of you who prefer retail therapy, check out my giveaway this week!)

So I decided to make cookies. But what kind? Yes, my favorite is oatmeal chocolate chip, but I wanted to try something different. I've been wanting to try making these cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar in New York. I've heard about this place on blogs and on the food channel and what not. So I found the recipe for "copycat" cornflake, marshmallow and chocolate chip cookies at The Cookbook Chronicles that I decided to try out. As you know I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and these cookies have some of those ingredients so I was sold.

Copycat Momofuku Cornflake Marshmallow cookies

Makes 20 cookies
The Cookbook Chronicles

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling)

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes (= about 1 1/2 cup cornflakes before crushing)

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips*

about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

*The chocolate chips in the original Momofuku Milk bar cookie are minis, though substitute with regular-sized chips if you prefer

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips.

(If you have time and would like the cookies to spread a little less, refrigerate the dough for two hours.)

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. (Six will fit comfortably on one pan–give them room to spread!) Lightly press down 4 mini marshmallows in the center of each ball of dough. Sprinkle tops with a touch more salt. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Be sure to leave enough space on the cookie sheet !

Bake for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

How cute are those plates?!

Outcome: I did the recipe exactly as followed ( as well as putting them in the fridge, but only for about an hour). I watched them bake and they rose beautifully in the oven, but when they cooled they fell... so very flat. I did not let this discourage me because they tasted great and were still chewy (even the next day). BTW - I hate crunchy cookies! Soft please ;-) Maybe I will try to change up the baking soda/powder ration next time? Anyways, I really liked this recipe. I love the salty and sweet combo. I hope to try a real Momofuku cookie soon. Hey, you know what these cookies reminded me of? The Tony the Tiger Cookies my mom used to bake when I was a kid. Such good memories... I'm happy now :) ~Cara Lee

Giveaway!

2011-01-25T00:46:00.009-05:00

I'm so excited to announce another giveaway!

The kind people at CSN Stores have offered my lovely readers another chance to win a gift certificate to their stores.

Did you know CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be swingsets, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware! CSN Stores is giving the winner of this giveaway $35 to their site! (BTW - I noticed the cutest aprons in the kitchen section ;-)

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is browse CSN stores website and leave a comment telling me what you would buy if you won. Please leave a valid email address as well.

More ways to enter:
-Become a fan/"like" of Cara Lee Cupcakes & Cake on Facebook and leave a separate comment that you are a fan/"like" me
-Become a follower of my blog on Google friend connect and leave a separate comment
-Blog/post about the giveaway and leave a separate comment and link to your post

This giveaway will end Monday night January 31st at 11:59pm est. Winner will be randomly selected using random.org and announced Tuesday February 1st. (Which reminds me this could come in handy for that special Valentine!) *Note* This gift certificate does not cover international fees.

Good luck!! ~Cara Lee

I'm back! (plus an upcoming giveaway!)

2011-01-23T21:52:00.008-05:00

I was MIA this past week because I took a nice relaxing vacay with the BF. Escaped the cold DC weather and headed to the U.S. Virgin Islands. We stayed on St. Thomas and visited St. John as well. A nice way to wrap up my winter break as graduate school starts up again this week :( Here's a little taste of my vacation.... I can't believe I'm back in the cold again! I will miss being able to bake whenever I wanted during my winter break from school. Though I will find time hopefully at least once a week or so during this spring semester ;-)

Giveaway:
I will be posting a giveaway this Tuesday!
So check back for details :)

~Cara Lee

Coconut Macaroon Pop (Tutorial)

2011-01-13T17:17:00.005-05:00

I never really liked coconut growing up. It was not until a few years ago when I tried it again and loved it (funny how your tastes change as you grow). While surfing the blogesphere I came across this macaroon recipe. It's quick, simple and taste good too. I was also influenced by Bakerella's cake pops when doing this tutorial. I think it was easier to do these than cake pops! Guess I just need to practice the cake pops a bit more ;-) Oh and since the next holiday around the corner is Valentine's day, I decided to make this tutorial Valentine's themed.

Coconut Macaroons

From Bon Appetit Hon

Makes approximately 24

Ingredients:

14 ounces sweetened flake coconut
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place the coconut in a food processor (I used the Magic Bullet - one of the "as seen on TV" things that actually works!) and pulse until the coconut is chopped into rice size pieces.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt. When smooth, add the cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of almond extract and whisk until smooth. Add the coconut and continue to whisk until it is evenly coated.

Using a small ice cream scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon) portion out the macaroons onto your parchment. This is wear I molded the macaroons into hearts. I used the small heart cutter from Wilton. Put the cutter on the parchment, place a tablespoon of the mix in the heart and use your fingers to press the mix to form the heart. Carefully lift the cutter - ta dah! A heart! Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until they are golden on the bottom and just browned on top. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now it's time to put them on a stick... 1. Stick a lollipop stick in the bottom of the heart (bout half way in).
2. Remove the stick, dip it in melted chocolate and re-insert into the macaroon. This will help keep the macaroon on the stick when the chocolate hardens. After all the macaroons have been "sticked" put them in the fridge until the chocolate is hardened.
3. Now its time to decorate! I used dark chocolate and red candy melts to decorate my pops. I dipped some completely in chocolate and others I just drizzled the chocolate. I did some with heart sprinkles too. Just have fun with it :)

Tips for decorating with chocolate:
~Put some chocolate in a sandwich size Ziploc bag, snip a teeny hole in one corner for easy drizzling
~Be sure to get all the excess chocolate off the macaroon so you can really see the heart. I found it was easy to use a small spatula or butter knife to gently scrape off the excess (especially where the curves of the heart meet at the top)
~If you don't have Styrofoam around to stick the pops in, I saw this idea on a blog somewhere... use a colander to hold the pops! (The hard part is finding a colander in which the sticks fit, but I actually found one)
If you don't wanna stick them, you can just decorate them too. I made a few larger heart macaroons and dipped each side in chocolate and drizzled with the red candy melts.

To wrap them up, I covered them with small plastic candy bags. I sealed them with red ribbon and a vintage valentine cutout I made myself :) You can find vintage valentine images on the internet. Print them on photo paper, then use a large punch to cut them out (I happen to have a large circular punch around.)

What a cute gift to give to the people you love! I hope you enjoy :) ~Cara Lee

Tinkerbell Birthday

2011-01-09T10:54:00.009-05:00

It has kind of become a tradition to make my neice's birthday cakes. Last year I did a Sesame Street cake with matching character cupcakes (which are still one of my top favorites I have done). This year for her 3rd birthday she wanted Tinkerbell. Off the bat, the is no way I was going to attempt to sculpt a Tinkerbell. I found a set of Tinkerbell and her fairy friends which I used to decorate with. Everything else was made by hang with fondant - flowers, vines.

The decor was pretty easy. Whenever I make a cake, I make the decor a few days before to dry out. For this cake it was simple flowers, name, number 3 and some vines and grass. I bought a small extruder (which is usually used for clay) to make the name and number. SO much easier than trying to roll it out. For the flowers - I have decided I just don't have patience for beautiful gumpaste flowers. So I use the small blossom cutter and mold as well as make ribbon roses. I also just kinda made up a flower (the big purple one with the white stamens). One day I will learn to make Ron Ben-Israel flowers ;-)

For the big flower on top I actually used the wilton leaf cutter for both the petals and the leaves. I gently pressed them in a flower veiner to give them some life like detail then brushed them with pearl dust. To form the flower I just put yellow royal icing in the middle and pushed the petals in to form the flower. I really loved the way it came out! The curly vines really make it whimsical too.

The cake was a vanilla cake with crusting buttercream. I rarely ever make traditional buttercream. It's really NOT my favorite frosting to use - anyone have a better recipe for that? Preferably one with out shortening? Though the cake looked good, unfortunately it was really dry :( People said it was still fine, but I'm always critical of myself.

I also made chocolate cupcakes. I actually decided to use some of my Naturally Nora mixes I had won. I mixed in Oreos in some and filled others with chocolate ganache or salted caramel. The birthday girl helped me put the sprinkles on (and eat them too! lol). The cupcakes were very moist and yummy :)

Here is the whole spread. I made a little Tinkerbell menu of the flavors of cupcakes and cake for a final touch. Hope you all had a great weekend! ~Cara Lee

~* Happy 3rd Birthday Cali *~

My Favorite Cookies

2011-01-05T16:48:00.000-05:00

My absolute favorite cookies in the world are oatmeal chocolate chip. Sometimes when I need my fix I get the $1 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Potbelly's. Just recently I found these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pecans from Elevation Burger which are made with organic eggs and butter. Loved the pecans in there! So I decided to make my own cookies this week. One of my last attempts was not so successful.... but I think I have found my "go to" recipe for now! Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Coconut and Pecans
Recipe Modified from All Recipes
Makes about 30 mini cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla. In separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Gently mix in the quick oats, pecans, coconut and chocolate chips. (Important not to over mix cookie dough). Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto un-greased baking sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop).
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk :)

For the rest of the week I have to prepare a cake and cupcakes for my BF's neice's birthday. Tinkerbell... so extra girly :) Happy hump day and have a good week! ~Cara Lee

Homemade Doughnuts

2011-01-02T16:59:00.007-05:00

For the New Years party I put together, I was so excited to make homemade baked doughnuts. I ordered a mini doughnut pan from cooking.com a week before and thank goodness it came in the mail just in time. I will admit that a baked doughnut may not be AS satisfying as a fried one from Krispy Kreme... but these were still tasty and can satisfy that doughnut craving. They're also super easy!

Doughnuts
Recipe modified from All Recipes

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter milk
2 eggs, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a doughnut pan. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in butter milk, eggs, vanilla and butter. Beat together until well blended. Spray pan with cooking spray (I used the butter flavor). Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. (Tip: fill a zip loc bag and cut the corner for easy filling.) Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.

Almond-Orange Glaze
Recipe modified from All Recipes
Ingredients
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon orange extract

To make glaze, blend confectioners' sugar, hot water, almond and orange extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in the glaze and let set for a few minutes. (I decorated them with edible gold star glitter from Wilton)

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Alton Brown
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

DirectionsCombine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. (I decorated them with sprinkles, mini chocolate chips and toasted coconut). Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving. (For some reason my glaze never set :( But it still tasted good.)

And on that note....

Happy 2011

2011-01-02T16:09:00.013-05:00

Wow 2010 flew by... I can't believe its 2011. Did you know this year will be my 10 year high school reunion! That'll make ya feel old ;-) Well, I rang in new years eve with my BF and a few friends. My one friend opened up his house for the party and let me put together the whole menu of food and desserts! (Is it sad I was most excited about that? Could care less about the ball dropping lol). I used Love the Day's NYE printables - which everyone loved! Here's a little taste of the party I put together....

Appetizers

Beef Sliders
Served with choice of condiments and sweet potato chips or salt and pepper chips

Sundried Tomato Bruschettas
Sundried tomato pesto with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto served on French bread

Hummus
Served with mini pitas and veggies

Candied Bacon
Brown sugar candied bacon with a touch of spice and served on a stick

Baked Brie
Brie baked in a pastry with apricot and cranberry

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Shrimp baked with bacon

Curry Chicken Skewers
Chicken marinated in a red curry peanut sauce and grilled

Desserts

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Chocolate cake filled with salted caramel sauce and topped with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Topped with white chocolate, chocolate chips or toasted coconut

Homemade Doughnuts
Baked doughnuts topped with chocolate glaze or almond-orange glaze

Chocolate Dipped Oreo Pops
White or milk chocolate covered oreos on a stick

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
Homemade marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate and topped with toasted coconut, graham cracker crumbs or sprinkles

I was very happy with the result and it all came together just as I envisioned. Thanks again to Love the Day for the printables! Cheers to a new year ~Cara Lee

Getting Ready for New Years Eve

2010-12-29T23:10:00.019-05:00

I'm so excited I have NYE off for once. I've been working in a restaurant throughout college/grad school and I always miss the ball drop. Not doing anything crazy but I am excited to be putting together the hors dourves and desserts for the little get together we are planning with friends. I'm also using Love the Day's free printable for decor and inspiration for the food table. BTW - the printables are being offered on behalf of Oper ation Shower. Check them out if you get a chance :)

Soooo, today I prepped some of the desserts for NYE...

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Some sprinkled with toasted coconut, chocolate chips or drizzled with white chocolate

Chocolate Covered Oreo Pops
Decorated with edible star glitter and a little edible gold dust

Homemade Marshmallows

Now, I have been wanting to make my own marshmallows for a long time! I got the big box of Knox Gelatin (kinda expensive) and it has just been sitting there for a few months now. So finally I made them. I read good things about Martha Stewart's recipe so I gave it a try. I can officially confirm that once you have had a homemade marshmallow, ya can't go back to store bought!

Homemade Marshmallows
Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart
Makes about 16

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
3 (1/4-ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (I did vanilla extract instead)
Confectioners' sugar, sifted, for coating

Directions

1. Lightly spray a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; set aside. (This confused me a bit, I think I was supposed to put the plastic THEN spray)
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water; let stand for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and, with the mixer on high, slowly pour the boiling syrup down the side of the mixer bowl into gelatin mixture. Add salt and continue mixing for 12 minutes.
3. Add peppermint extract and mix until well combined. Spray a rubber spatula or your hands with cooking spray. Spread gelatin mixture evenly into pan using prepared spatula or your hands. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place, spray side down, on top of marshmallows. Let stand for 2 hours.
4. Carefully remove marshmallows from pan. Remove all plastic wrap and discard. Cut marshmallows into 2-inch squares using a sprayed a sharp knife. Place confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Working in batches, add marshmallows to bowl and toss to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

These are SO good! They also last longer in hot chocolate than store bought marshmallows and that makes me happy ;-) I did take a little of the batter and added some matcha powder to make a small batch of green tea marshmallows and they were very good too. I plan to experiment with other flavors in the future.

I have a few more desserts I plan to make and hopefully the rest of the food will turn out okay too ;-) Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve! ~Cara Lee

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T13:48:00.007-05:00

Christmas season just makes me want to bake stuff whenever I have time. I whipped up these gingerbread cupcakes for fun today. I must say I am impressed with the recipe I found. I was also impressed with the $1.50 stand I found at the thrift store this week ;-) But back to the cupcakes, they cooked up beautifully with a few modifications I read in the reviews.
Gingerbread Cupcakes
Makes approximately 1 dozen cupcakes
Recipe modified from the Food Network

Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten with a fork
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup water
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, molasses. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Add orange and lemon extract.

In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk the molasses mixture into the flour mixture until evenly combined.

In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and baking powder. Whisk the hot water into the batter until just combined. Transfer the batter into the prepared cupcake liners. Bake at 325 for about 18-22 minutes. After they have cooled top them off with cream cheese frosting (I added a little lemon juice to my cream cheese frosting for a little kick). Garnish with crystallized ginger and enjoy!

So yummy and very moist. It's not a very strong gingery cupcake which I actually prefer. I think this would be good any time of year - not just the holidays.

Merry Christmas! May your holiday be restful... just like my dog Rocco!

~Cara Lee

Happy Winter!

2010-12-21T00:38:00.005-05:00

Today is the first day of winter! Did anyone see the winter eclipse? I decided to sleep. I'm really not a winter person - I hate being cold! But sad I'm missing the eclipse. In honor of the first day of winter here are some wintery red velvet cupcakes I made for an order this weekend....

Hope you all are getting that shopping done for the holidays :)

Holiday Party

2010-12-12T19:42:00.007-05:00

This weekend my BF and I headed down to Chesapeake, VA to see his cousin's Christmas light display (I kind of refer to his cousin as the Clark Griswold of Chesapeake, VA - see video I posted ;-). We also went down to attend his and his wife's holiday party. I decided to contribute some sweets since you really can never have enough during the holidays.

So for the party I made a cake and some cake pops. This was my second attempt at Bakerella's cake pop creation. Flavors: red velvet, chocolate and chocolate peppermint. As for decor, I stuck to basic sprinkles. They took forever to make but I was happy with the result overall - much better than before.
For the cake I had this really cute basic winter wonderland idea in my head. But it did not execute as nice as I wanted. I brought all my materials to their house and assembled and decorated there, but I still felt out of my element I guess. Not to mention I had a huge gaping hole in the fondant and had to patch it up. It was so frustrating. I just wanted to pay tribute to his cousin's Christmas lights and winter. This is what I ended up with.... not my fave cake, but it was presentable. Most important: the cake tasted good and was moist ;-) Flavors were: vanilla almond cake with vanilla SMBC and chocolate ganache as well as red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season... can't believe how fast the month is flying by!

Smores Cupcakes

2010-12-07T22:22:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway from The Pink Little Cake. Kathia at PLC was giving away a whole bunch of Naturally Nora mixes. And I actually won! I decided to finally use one of the mixes to create a cupcake for my last night of class for the fall semester.

My Winnings!

Well, I love smores - even when I'm not camping. There are hundreds of ways of putting it into cupcake form. I decided to use the Naturally Nora Double Fudgey box brownie mix and this is what I came up with for my semi-homemade smores cupcake.

1) Make your favorite box brownie mix (the Naturally Nora is wonderful! Taste like the box mix brownies I grew up, and is all natural.)
2) Make a graham cracker crust to put at the bottom of the cupcake liners (Tip: use a small flat glass bottom to push down the graham cracker crust to make it nice and flat).

3) I baked them at 350 for about 18 minutes, checked them and they needed a few more. WIll depend on your oven. Let them cool completely.

4) I made marshmallow frosting that was featured on Martha Stewart's website, which is from Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle (I've actually been there!).

Check out those stiff peaks!

5) Frost the cupcakes and torch them! Unfortunately I do not own a torch :( So I did the broiler method. Kinda tricky, you have to watch it very closely. I probably could have caught my hand on fire at one point when I was trying to get them near the flame lol :-/

6) Enjoy :)
Thank you Kathia and Naturally Nora for hosting the giveaway! Can't wait to try the other mixes :) Now I am going to celebrate the fall semester being over!!

Holidays are in full effect

2010-12-01T10:33:00.005-05:00

Well it's December 1st, and the holidays are in full effect. Hanukkah starts today and only 25 more days until Christmas! I have yet to shop for anyone (sorry guys! lol). As my grad classes are winding down for the semester I decided to make some cupcakes for one of my classes that is ending today (any excuse to try a new recipe creation).

I decided to make cran-orange cupcakes. I made some last year, which were pretty good. But I wanted to tweak the recipe a bit. For the cake, I made a yellow cupcake batter and added fresh orange zest. Then I cooked the cranberries first with water and sugar (like you would cranberry sauce) but left them whole and drained the excess juice when cooled. The cranberries are then folded gently into the batter. For the frosting, I'm hooked on the SMBC (swiss meringue buttercream)! The cream cheese frosting I did last year was good, but can be so sweet with an already sweet cupcake. So I did a white chocolate SMBC. To top it all off they are garnished with sugared cranberries and a fondant holly leaf.

Very happy with my result this year. Hopefully my classmates will enjoy them too :) Happy Holidays!

Baby Party Cupcakes

2010-11-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

This weekend I attended a friend's baby party (not quite a shower!). It's like a party but with a baby theme and co-ed ;-) I promised to make some cupcakes for the event. How cute are the little baby topper on those cupcakes?! Kinda makes me LOL.

Ready for 'delivery'...

I made two flavors for the party. First, chocolate cupcakes with a caramel swiss meringue buttercream and salted caramel drizzle. I used my go do chocolate cupcake recipe (Martha Stewart's devils food cake) and made a swiss meringue buttercream. To that I added homemade caramel, which took me 2 1/2 tries by the way! No bueno! After I finally made the caramel, I reserved a few table spoons to add to the buttercream and the rest I added kosher salt to make the salted caramel. Yummmmy...The other flavor I made the pumpkin cupcakes with maple cinnamon cream cheese frosting again. Just seemed fitting for the season (around Thanksgiving and all).

A few of us who used to work with the mama-to-be made a special gift for her baby present, that just seemed so fitting... a diaper cake! It was the first diaper cake I've ever made and it was so easy and fun. How cute is out monkey theme?!

Congrats to Tonya who is due in January!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:48:00.007-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was lucky enough to spend it with my boyfriend and his family. We also invited our friends from China for their very first Thanksgiving here in the US! I'm thankful we could share it with them :)

I decided I wanted to try something I have never made before (a dessert of course). I'm soooo tired of pumpkin pie :-/ Apple crisps and crumbles are so easy. So I choose an apple pie with pecans. I made the dough from scratch and everything. I had to ask for some help from my boyfriends mom a few times, but I managed. I used this pie crust recipe and inspiration for the apple filling from here.

Maybe I'll stick to cakes?

50th Birthday Cake

2010-11-21T20:03:00.007-05:00

Had an order for another friend. It was her father's 50th Birthday this weekend. She basically told me the color scheme and we worked from that. This is what I ended up with :) (Wish I got better pics but I assembled it at their house. They were kind enough to hold up a white cloth for me though ;-)

Flavors included: chocolate cake with vanilla swiss meringue and chocolate ganache as well as white chocolate cake with white chocolate swiss meringue and raspberry preserves.

I'm very happy with the result and hope the birthday party went well. Ya know, the more three tier cakes I do, the more I'm just amazed at how time consuming they can be. I need a sous chef!!

Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

2010-11-15T14:50:00.003-05:00

I've been super stressed with school work - less than a month until the end of the semester (thank god!). I had a craving for brownies last night. So between working on my project for class, I googled some recipes and I came across these Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies from Recipegirl.com. I figured I would give them a shot.

CHOCOLATE- PUMPKIN BROWNIES
www.RecipeGirl.com

PUMPKIN BATTER:
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
1 Tbs all-purpose flour

CHOCOLATE BATTER:
5½ ounces best-quality semisweet- chocolate, finely chopped
1¼ sticks (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar (I used only 1 cup)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 13×9-inch baking dish.

2. Prepare pumpkin batter: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter with cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar, scraping bowl occasionally. Bet in egg, then add pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in flour.

3. Prepare chocolate batter: Combine semisweet chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set bowl over saucepan with 1-inch of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, combine eggs with sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat at low speed until light and fluffy- about 4 minutes. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in melted chocolate. Sift flour over the batter and fold it in just until combined.

4. Spread chocolate batter evenly in prepared pan. Using a Tablespoon, drop dollops of the pumpkin batter all over the top. Using the back of a butter knife, swirl the pumpkin batter slightly into the chocolate.

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes (starting checking on brownies at 30 minutes to see if they’re done- a toothpick inserted into center should come out clean).

6. Let brownies cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 24 brownies

Outcome: Well, first let me state I mis-read the recipe and did not melt the butter into the chocolate. I creamed the butter with the sugar first by accident (habit I guess when baking cakes). Also, since the recipe said semi-sweet I figured it was ok to use chocolate chips. I think next time I will try a better chocolate (like the recipe says) and remember to melt the butter into the chocolate. These were good, but still needed something... and I had JUST the thing! Left over cinnamon maple cream cheese frosting. OMG. It adds just a little more sweetness and a bit of creaminess. Perfect for fall chocolate lovers :)

My Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
(This is a soft recipe and it is important not to over mix)

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter unsalted
1 cup powdered sugar (or so)
1-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Dash of cinnamon

Combine cream cheese and butter with mixer. Slowly add 1/2 the powdered sugar while mixer is on lowest speed. Add 1 table spoon of maple syrup and the cinnamon. Check the consistency, add more powdered sugar and or maple syrup. *I never measure my powdered sugar when I make cream cheese frosting, I add it until it is the consistency and taste that I like. I don't like it super sweet and I like to be able to taste the cream cheese. ENJOY.

Beach Cake

2010-11-07T22:54:00.004-05:00

This weekend I also had a cake order for an old high school friend. She was celebrating her anniversary with her boyfriend and wanted something special. I feel so honored she chose a cake from ME :) They love the beach so I came up with this design based on what she told me. It was a lot of fun to make. I love the beach myself so I love making these cakes. The flavors she wanted were pineapple and coconut. I've never done that combo before. I ended up making a coconut cake and filling it with a pineapple filling and coconut swiss meringue.

I really loved how my palm tree came out! First I had to figure out how to attach the leaves to the trunk - that was fun. Then I was nervous it was going to fall over. But it worked out fine :) I added a little heart on the tree, which I thought was SO cute... that was until I delivered it. I put the WRONG initial for her BF. I felt terrible and I still feel bad as I'm writing this. So remember: always get the facts straight before hand!! Sorry Terry!! I hope you had a wonderful anniversary besides my mistake :(

Tiramisu Cupcakes

2010-11-07T22:40:00.004-05:00

Last night a friend of ours had us over for a little dinner party. And of course I can never show up empty handed. Besides alcoholic beverages I brought dessert too ;-) I was originally going to try and make a traditional tiramisu, but alot of the "authentic" recipes called for raw eggs. I don't mess with that! So I opted for Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes instead.

Got to use my new elegant liners :)

They were so light and yummy! The cake is like a lady finger cake, soaked in strong coffee/espresso which I mixed with amaretto. The frosting is a light whipped cream with mascarpone cheese. So good! But I am still looking for a good authentic recipe for tiramisu.

Halloween Party

2010-11-02T20:13:00.006-04:00

One of my best friends hosted her 2nd annual Halloween party this year. Even though I hate scary movies - I LOVE Halloween! So of course I wanted to help with food (the dessert portion of course). On the menu were: whoopie pies, peanut butter and chocolate rice crispy treats and toasted coconut rice crispy treats, and cupcakes. I also put together some decor since I did win some Halloween printables from Love the Day. Here is the result.... Warning: scary picture of me at the end!

Mwahahaha... I was a zombie baker! I'm cooking up some brains in that pic (aka: cauliflower with fake blood from the party store). I hope I did not scare you too much! I did win scariest costume at the party though. Thank you Allie for letting us have the party at your house again this year and thank you Love the Day for my awesome Halloween banner and water bottle labels! Now that it's November, time to get ready for the holidays!

Fall is in the air

2010-10-24T23:45:00.005-04:00

It's been awhile since I last blogged. I've kinda been taking a break from baking - as in less orders and more baking for myself :) I'm also enjoying fall quite a lot this year. I've always considered myself a summer person, but after this crazy heat wave we had in the DC area this summer...I think I am REconsidering what my favorite season is.

Last weekend was beautiful! We took a metro ride down to the Eastern Market in DC. I have lived in the MD/DC area my whole life and have never ever been. We enjoyed it so much we brought family friends from London, down to the market this weekend as well. Look at all the beautiful fall colors at the market:

(click to view collage larger)

Waited in line for a good 30 minutes for this crepe!

We decided to make dinner based on whatever we bought from the market. Here is what we ended up with on our menu that evening:

~Fresh Raviolis (2 flavors - Mozzarella and roasted tomato; goat cheese, butternut and apple) half of it I toasted ("St. Louis style") and the other half I boiled. We made a few different sauces on the side: marinara, vodka sauce, and a brown butter sage sauce with bacon (which went great with the goat cheese!)
~Homemade meatballs (a mix of pork, veal and beef)
~Brussel sprouts (my BFs family recipe...and it includes bacon and butter! I think bacon and butter can make anything taste good)
~Salad (fresh mesculin mix with grape tomatoes served with a homemade citrus honey mustard dressing)

~Topped off with a bottle of Vidal from the Lailey Winery we got on our trip to Niagara on the Lake this summer.

AHmazing dinner...

It was SO good! I kinda felt like how I feel after I eat a thanksgiving meal lol... but it was worth it! Oh and I can't forget the most important part of the meal... DESSERT :) Our family friends have never had a Cara Lee Cupcake so I whipped up some homemade Orange cupcakes scented with fresh zest topped with an orange zest swiss meringue and filled with a Grand Mariner raspberry filling. The jam I had bought on our trip to Niagara this summer as well. I mixed in a teaspoon or so of GM and some orange zest into the jam before filling the cupcakes.

Got to use my new orange with polka dot liners

The inside...

It's been such a great weekend and I'm loving fall... not ready for the cold weather to move in just yet though. In the meantime I will be getting ready for Halloween the rest of this week ~Cara Lee

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

2010-10-15T09:29:00.007-04:00

So last night one of my closest friends invited me over for dinner. I was excited because she said she was ordering Indian food and she had exciting news. I had been raving to her all week about these pumpkin cupcakes I had made the other day and I wanted to bring over something (I hate going to people's houses empty handed). Since she is vegetarian, I decided to whip together some vegan pumpkin muffins. I'm amazed how nice and light these came out! Perfect for fall :)
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
(adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or from a can)
1/2 cup soymilk (I had vanilla soy milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I actually used canola oil)
2 tablespoons molasses (I subbed regular syrup since I had no molasses)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Grease muffin tins with vegetable shortening or spray on oil. (I used liners)

Sift together dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (pumpkin through molasses).

Pour wet into dry and combine.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Oh I forgot to tell you the wonderful news: my friend asked me to be in her wedding! I'm so excited!!! I'm so pumped to be apart of Ash & Andrew 2011 ;-)

Mom to Mom Health

2010-10-10T16:26:00.001-04:00

(Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Frosting)

This weekend a friend of mine launched her new website Mom To Mom Health. I made some cupcakes for the event :)

Mom to Mom Health was started after her diagnosis of breast cancer in 2007. After overcoming it, she made it her mission to share what she has learned with others. She had no family history of breast cancer or any serious health issues, which lead her to believe that the chemicals in the environment played a role in my developing breast cancer. The site is dedicated to chemical free personal care products for women, men and children.

Did you know....
~ That cosmetic products we use daily, like shampoo, body wash, make-up, and even baby lotions contain chemicals that have been linked to serious health concerns such as cancer and birth defects? And did you know that it is perfectly legal in the US for companies to make personal care products with these harmful ingredients?
~The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has almost no authority to regulate cosmetics. Most ingredients are never tested for safety.

At Mom to Mom Health you can purchase everything from bath products, skincare, makeup, hair care and more. And with every purchase $1 is donated to Breastcancer.org. Please visit her site - it's a great resource and the donations go to a great cause. (PS - did you know October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month ;-)

Monster Truck Birthday

2010-10-04T21:14:00.004-04:00

Here's a cake I did kinda last minute for my boss' son's 3rd birthday. Originally I wanted to do an actual monster truck tire, but I just did not have time. So I came up with this idea. It would also go great for a racing car theme too.

The bottom layer was chocolate cake with vanilla swiss meringue and covered in chocolate ganache. Top layer is vanilla with strawberry swiss meringue and covered also in chocolate ganache. I've become a big fan of covering cakes in ganache under the fondant.

I was up pretty late putting the cake together. I decided to buy the fondant for this cake because 1) red and black are the hardest colors to dye the fondant and 2) it tastes good and I think the kids would like it better 3) I'm lazy to make marshmallow fondant. I bought Duff's fondant at Michael's. I think it tastes good, but it's so hard to roll out! It's so soft and when I was covering the top layer with the red Duff fondant, I was almost done and sealing the bottom and trimming the excess and it rips!! It was 3am and there was no turning back. I ended up making a fondant "patch" and used it kind of like a sign for the Happy Birthday part. Whew! I almost freaked out! lol. What do you all think of the new Duff fondant?

The "new" cupcake?

2010-10-01T11:40:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I decided to buy myself a new cookbook. I usually scour the internet for recipes to try, but I figured I would like to add a new book to my very limited collection. I get overwhelmed at the book store - SO many cookbooks I would love to have. I ended up with Making Whoopies: THe Official Whoopie Pie Book. I have been wanting to make these for awhile. Word on the street is that the whoopie pie is the new cupcake? Who knows! But they are fun and really easy to make. My first encounter with a whoopie pie was in elementary school. I was a Brownie girl scout and every week someone brought a snack. This one girl would always bring these whoopie pies. I think that may have been the last time I really had a whoopie pie actually. Fast forward to today, there are all kinds of whoopie pie concoctions - red velvet, pumpkin, to jalepeño corn bread. I decided my first ones should be the traditional whoopie. There is a great debate as to whether the filling should be made with vegetable shortening or marshmallow fluff. I try to use as little shortening as possible when I cook anything and I prefer the marshmallow myself - just seems more "natural" ;-) Oh and I also swapped the vegetable oil with canola for the cake part as well. Hey, every little bit counts right? They came out perfect! I made mini pies (I love mini anything - mini eclairs, mini 8oz. coca cola in the can, mini cupcakes... I think you got the idea!). Just use a cookie scoop to drop the dough evenly on the cookie sheet. After they cool and you put them together, you can make them a little more funky with sprinkles or dip them in chocolate ganache. And now that it is October, I think they would be a fun treat for any Halloween party.

Whatcha think? Fun huh?

DC area cupcake happy hour event

2010-09-29T16:59:00.007-04:00

I received an email from one of my readers about a cupcake event at Sticky Fingers in DC. In case you haven't heard of them, they are one of the top vegan bakeries around here :) Even though I'm not vegan, I'm a big fan of their brownies which don't even taste vegan to me. Oh and guess what they ship! But I'm lucky enough that even though I don't quite live in the city, they sell them at a local whole foods/organic store near me! Jealous?! haha... Okay well back to what I wanted to tell you. Sticky Fingers along with Scharffen Berger Chocolate and TuttiFoodie is having a cupcake happy hour to kick off the Chocolate Adventure Contest 2010. Here's more info from the email:

I'm helping my aunt, founder of www.tuttifoodie.com (kind of like Daily Candy for foodie types, maybe you've seen it!), promote the Chocolate Adventure Contest here in the DC area. We're holding a launch party (a cupcake happy hour!) at Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights on Wed, October 6th from 5-8. The first 100 guests will enjoy a complimentary Chocolate Adventure cupcake made by Sticky Fingers - which means it will be fabulous and vegan and include one awesome contest ingredient - stout! I'm kind of excited to try it :)

The Contest: We’d be grateful if you could tell your readers about it. They can make their own tricked-out cupcake in the privacy of their own kitchen between October 1 and January 1. Grand prize is $10,000 and a feature in Food Network magazine. And the winner gets to ride around on a cupcake truck in NYC that’ll be handing out the grand prize winning cupcake.

Click image to enlarge

Thanks for the info Meg! Unfortunately I will not be able to attend - grad school just gets in the way of all the fun things :( Hopefully one of you all will be able to attend though!! (Did I read FREE cupcake?! and it has beer in it?!) Enjoy!!

ps - Even though I can't make it to the launch party, I'm definitely thinking about entering this contest!!

Happy Birthday Lindsay

2010-09-25T23:21:00.010-04:00

Here's a little cake I whipped up for one of my closest friend's birthday this weekend. I wanted to do something a little more simple but fun too. I did a tall 6 inch round cake with layers of vanilla and chocolate cake. Between them I put strawberry swiss meringue buttercream and coated the entire cake with amaretto chocolate ganache. I made some simple fondant flowers and leaves to decorate it. I think it came out pretty well and it lasted too (considering it's unseasonably hot again here in the DC area - another 90 degree day during fall!). *See below for easy chocolate ganache recipe*

So yummy! Who doesn't like chocolate and strawberry?! (I learned that from cupcake camp lol) I think it was a crowd pleaser ;-) But I am so annoyed at my horrible piping skills! I don't know what it is when I have to write something on a cake my hand shakes so much. Any tips??

Easy Chocolate Ganache

I'm always looking up how to make ganache and every recipe calls for weight measurements. I don't have a scale and then I end up having to look up a measurement converter on the internet, etc. So here is the amounts I used yesterday and it came out great! I still had some left over and it keeps in the fridge for a few days - just slowly heat it up int he micro when you're ready to use again (or snack on it with pretzel sticks! YUM)

Ingredients:

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz. pkg - I like to get the mini chips since they melt easier)
1 cup of whipping cream
3 tbls butter, softened
1-2 tbls Liquer of your choice (I tend to use amaretto, Grand Mariner, or Bailey's)

Directions:

Place chocolate chips in a glass bowl.
Slowly heat up the cream over the stove top, stirring and bringing it just before a boil.
Pour heated cream over chocolate chips and let sit for about 2 minutes.
Whisk the cream and chocolate chips until combined, then add the butter.
Whisk in the liquer. Voila! You're ready to cover a cake or have some fondue ;-)

Give Away Winner!

2010-09-20T08:38:00.003-04:00

Congrats to Ashley for being the winner of my first giveaway! Thanks for participating and many thanks to CSNstores!

Cupcake Camp DC

2010-09-19T08:30:00.006-04:00

I attended Cupcake Camp DC yesterday - talk about cupcake overload! I think overall it came together - being the first one and all. Some bakers pulled out last minute and they weren't sure if we would have a venue or not, but they were able to find a new one in time and some people (like me) made extra cupcakes. As for the venue, it ended up being at FunXion in DC which I had never heard of or been too. It was a little cramped and claustrophobic at times making it hard to get cupcakes when they brought them out each round. If there was more space I'm sure this would have been easier. But, I guess we should be thankful they let us use the venue last minute... and even though the bartender was a little rude to people (like not giving some people tap water!) But besides all that... I enjoyed the event overall! It helped I won something in a raffle: 2 free admissions to the Celebrity Cake Challenge to the NCACS nest year! HOLLA!

Silly me forgot to take pics of my cupcakes,
so I snapped a pic from some random person before they ate it

My entries:
~ Home brewed chocolate stout cupcake with Bailey's chocolate ganache and frosting (I think these may have had too much Bailey's which over powered the taste of the cake)
~Mini ginger citrus cupcakes (I think these came out too sweet)

Cupcake catastrophe

The view

Fun flavors

Slowing down and only 3 cupcakes in...

Started to collect some for later to try :)

Washed them down with my expensive drink (forgot it was DC when I ordered this)

Judges table!

This winning cupcake!
Chocolate covered strawberry from my friend Rene of Rene Takes the Cake!

Rene and I :)

And that was cupcake camp in a nutshell. Some thoughts for next years cupcake camp:
~Bigger venue (I understand that the first venue bailed so I'm still happy they were able to get a place last minute venue)
~Instead of bringing whole cupcakes out each round, it should be tastes of cupcakes cut into fourths for the big cupcakes (people would grab up the whole cupcakes and the people in the back couldn't get any. People couldn't even finish cupcakes anyways. If they did pieces, then at the end they could put all the cupcakes out and people take home what they like)

Those were my only real issues I did have a fun time! Props to Nicole for putting together all of the event! Thank you! Until next year ;-)

Happy Birthday to ME

2010-09-15T09:09:00.005-04:00

Well today is my birthday... officially hitting my late 20's. It still feels like my mid 20's, but I guess it hasn't kicked in yet. (UPDATE: I think it has kicked in... found some gray hairs! ACK!)
This past weekend we celebrated my birthday a little early and went camping for a night. It was nice to hang out with friends and relax by the fire and veg out (I can't tell you how many s'mores I had!).
Is it weird I didn't make myself a fancy cake?! It was kinda nice relaxing since I've been making cupcakes and cakes for others recently. However, my friend Jessica did make me a wonderful s'mores brownie concoction cake (thanks girl!!)
Well the rest of this week I will be preparing for Cupcake Camp DC! I'm kinda nervous - there are two other entries with (almost) the same kinda of cupcake I'm doing. So we'll see....

In the mean time enter my giveaway! Have a good one ~Cara Lee

My first give away!

2010-09-12T23:20:00.002-04:00

Whether you need a coffee table or a Kitchen Aid, CSN Stores has got it all! And the gracious people at CSN Stores have offered to give one of my wonderful readers $35 to spend at their stores - how awesome is that?!

All you have to do is:
1) Leave a comment how you would spend $35 at CSN Stores.
2) Leave a valid email address.
3) Become a follower on blogger or 'Like' my blog on Facebook.

Details:
1) You have until Sunday, September 19th 11:59pm est to enter.
2) Entries will be drawn at random and the winner will be posted Monday, September 20th.
3) If the winner does not respond within 48hrs a new winner will be selected.
4) GOOD LUCK!!

My CSN Stores wish list...

A new apron

Heart shaped apple corer

Cupcake dog bed

Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcakes

2010-09-09T23:41:00.001-04:00

When I want to DEstress, I love to bake. Today was just the day for that. I happen to buy some rhubarb on a whim yesterday. I've never actually had rhubarb by itself before, but I had some strawberry rhubarb jam while on a recent trip I took. It looks like a purple kind of celery and tastes really tart when it's raw. Do people actually eat it raw?
I googled around for some inspiration as to how to cook this stuff and what to do with it. I came across the blog The Dutch Baker's Daughter, and found her recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcakes (which was actually a runner up in a Betty Crocker baking contest :-). I followed all her directions but the only thing I changed was the frosting. I'm on this swiss meringue kick lately, so I did a strawberry rhubarb version :) Btw - I could not stop licking the spoon when I was cooking down the strawberries and rhubarb together!

They were really yummy. Very moist and not too sweet at all - which the BF liked, I could use a little more sweetness but that's just me ;-) I like the combo more than just plain strawberry cupcakes, the rhubarb gives it a little more umph. I think it's a perfect treat for the end of summer going into autumn season.